


Teaspoon :: Trouble by Absinthe

by amythestice



Series: Fitz Files [2]
Category: Doctor Who: Eighth Doctor Adventures - Various Authors
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-11-07 10:31:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11057106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amythestice/pseuds/amythestice





	1. Chapter 1

 

[](http://www.whofic.com/)

|  [Home](http://www.whofic.com/) | [Most Recent](http://www.whofic.com/search.php?action=recent) | [Categories](http://www.whofic.com/categories.php) | [Authors](http://www.whofic.com/authors.php?list=authors) | [Titles](http://www.whofic.com/titles.php) | [Help](http://www.whofic.com/help.php) | [Search](http://www.whofic.com/search.php) | [Log In](http://www.whofic.com/user.php) |  
---  
[Eighth Doctor](http://www.whofic.com/categories.php?catid=8)  
---  
**Trouble** by [Absinthe](http://www.whofic.com/viewuser.php?uid=2485) [[Reviews](http://www.whofic.com/reviews.php?sid=10143&chapid=19258) \- [0](http://www.whofic.com/reviews.php?sid=10143&chapid=19258)] [Chapter](http://www.whofic.com/viewstory.php?action=printable&textsize=0&sid=10143&chapter=1) **or** [Story](http://www.whofic.com/viewstory.php?action=printable&textsize=0&sid=10143&chapter=all)  
  
1\. Chapter 1 An old friend 2. Chapter 2 New Enemy

  
  
Not mine, never going to be mine. I make no money nor claim any credit for the genesis of these characters.  
  
*************  
  
Sam Jones was walking across the park in the darkness, heading for home and wishing she hadn't chosen to take this shortcut from the club. It was gone 2am, black as pitch and she was almost certain she was being followed. She turned nervously, trying to see any hint of anyone behind her.  
  
"Who's there, show yourselves." She called, trying to keep her voice from shaking and betraying her fear.  
  
There was a sudden rush of movement and something heavy grabbed her, yanking her bag off her and throwing her to the hard ground, landing on top of her. She struggled to get away as whoever it was started to go through her pockets, still holding her firmly in place with his weight. She managed to cry out for help, hoping there was someone, anyone, taking the same shortcut across the park. Her attacker slapped her hard, stunning her for a second, and the next thing she knew there was an animal snarl and something dragged the weight off her. She heard a scream of terror, and more snarling and thought her attacker was being savaged by a dog, had someone been walking their dog nearby and hear her call for help?  
  
"Hello, is there anyone there?" She called weakly into the darkness.  
  
"It's all right, you're safe now." A woman's voice said, and Sam felt a light touch on her arm as someone helped her up. The snarling seemed to have stopped and there was just the sound of the attacker whimpering in fear.  
Two more shadowy figures loomed out of the darkness, making Sam tense again.  
  
"Is she all right?" One of the figures asked in a voice half familiar to Sam  
.  
"A bit shaken up, what about the mugger?" The girl who had helped Sam said.  
  
"He's more than a bit shaken up, but no real damage."  
  
"Shame. I should report this to the police." Sam said.  
  
"You should come with us, at least until it's light. It's obviously not safe here in the dark." Another familiar voice said, this one she had no trouble placing, which gave her the identity of the first voice too.  
  
"Doctor, Fitz, is that you?"  
  
"Hello Sam." Fitz said. He took her arm.  
  
"Come on, you'll be safer with us until it gets light." He said.  
  
"Wait, what was that animal that attacked the mugger? Was it with you or was it a stray of some kind?"  
  
"Don't worry about it, it won't hurt you." The Doctor said.  
  
They led her across the dark grass, Fitz guiding her unerringly while the Doctor led the other woman. Sam wondered how the hell Fitz could see where he was going as he guided her around yet another obstacle.  
Something loomed up out of the dark, the TARDIS she realized, looking at the shape. Fitz opened the door and they stepped inside, she looked at him as she blinked in the bright light of the console room, and for a moment, she thought there was something odd about his eyes, but when her vision settled down and she looked again, they were perfectly normal, the same soft gray that she remembered.  
  
"Fitz, I'm so glad to see you." She said, throwing her arms around him and giving him a kiss on the mouth. She was surprised and a little hurt when he didn't respond in the way she had expected, instead he hugged her briefly and stepped back as the Doctor came in with another woman, small and pretty, the girl had dark hair and the smooth coffee colored skin of an asian.  
  
"Hi, I'm Anji." The girl said, smiling at Sam.  
  
"I'm Sam."  
  
"Oh, Fitz has told me a lot about you." Anji said.  
  
Sam smiled distractedly, but she was looking at the Doctor now, he hadn't spoken to her, but had gone to Fitz, who she realized with a start was dripping blood onto the floor from a deep looking cut in his arm. The mugger must have had a knife, she realized she was lucky to be alive, then it occurred to her to wonder how the mugger could have slashed Fitz, he hadn't been near him, had he? She thought only the animal had gone after the mugger, then she heard the same low snarl as the Doctor probed what was obviously a painful wound. The Doctor smiled briefly at Sam, then looked at Anji.  
  
"Will you take care of Sam while I get this cleaned up."  
  
"Of course." Anji said, leading Sam to the kitchen.  
  
"What I thought was an animal, that attacked the mugger. It was him wasn't it, Fitz?"  
  
"Yes." Anji said, putting the kettle on to make tea.  
  
"But how? The Fitz I knew was, well, a bit of a wimp."  
  
"Really? He's never struck me that way. Fitz has been through a lot, I suppose it's changed him." Anji shrugged, spooning some tea into the pot.  
  
In the medical bay, Fitz sat on the edge of the treatment couch, studiously not watching as the Doctor cleaned and bandaged the knife slash.  
  
"Why didn't you say he'd hurt you?" The Doctor asked.  
  
"Why? There was nothing you could have done out there."  
  
"Maybe, but I wish you'd stop trying to hide it from me when you're hurt."  
  
"Don't fuss." Fitz said, looking at him, then quickly looking away again as he caught sight of the blood.  
  
"It amazes me how squeamish you are considering how much you depend on blood for your survival."  
  
"That doesn't mean I have to like looking at it, especially when it's mine."  
  
"Plus it makes you hungry." The Doctor said. Fitz shrugged and the Doctor felt a sudden alarming suspicion.  
  
"You didn't bite that man did you?"  
  
"Of course not." Fitz said, anger lancing through his voice.  
  
"I'm sorry, but you don't seem as hungry as usual."  
  
"I ate this morning, so even with the fight, and the blood, it's bearable."  
  
"Do you want...."  
  
"No. We agreed, no more than was absolutely necessary." Fitz said, cutting him off.  
  
"Fitz, you went into full transformation before you jumped the mugger, you burned a lot of energy, it is necessary.”  
  
Fitz looked at him for a moment without saying anything, then his shoulders slumped and his head dropped forwards as he stopped trying to hide the weakness he had been feeling. The Doctor put a hand on the back of his neck and kissed the top of his head gently.  
  
"I won't be long." He said, slipping away. He hadn't been gone long when the door opened again. Fitz looked up thinking he was back already, or Anji had come down, but it was Sam.  
  
"Hi, I thought I'd make sure you were OK." She said.  
  
"Never better."  
  
"Why didn't you tell me it was you saved me from that nutter out there?"  
  
"It wasn't a big deal." He said, wishing she'd go away before the Doctor came back with the blood. He didn't want her to see that side of him, or to know how close he and the Doctor were now. She seemed to sense she wasn't wanted there and muttered a quiet apology before going back to the kitchen.  
  
"What's wrong?" Anji asked as Sam threw herself down at the table.  
  
"I get the feeling I'm not wanted here anymore. The Doctor hasn't said a word to me, and Fitz just made me feel like I was intruding."  
  
"Fitz will be all right in a while and the Doctor may be trying to cover for not being able to remember who you are. Fitz said he suffered some kind of trauma that affected his memory. He'll probably remember you after Fitz jogs his memory."  
  
"I bet Fitz wasn't short with the Doctor."  
  
"I bet he was, just because they're lovers, it doesn't protect him from Fitz's temper tantrums."  
  
"They're lovers?" Sam repeated, shocked.  
  
"They weren't before?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Oh, I just assumed that the Doctor's injury had put a break in their relationship while they got to know each other again."  
  
"No, Fitz was always a bit of a womanizer and the Doctor didn't seem interested at all."  
  
"Well, not anymore, they're very close now."  
  
Fitz came in looking much steadier now, followed by the Doctor.  
"Oh tea, lovely, is there any more in the pot?"  
  
"I'll make some fresh." Anji said, going to rise.  
  
"I'll make it." Fitz said, pressing her back down as he passed her.  
  
The Doctor sat down in the seat across from Sam, beside Anji, and smiled at Sam.  
"Are you feeling better now?" He asked her.  
  
"A lot less shaky, but I should have called the police and had them come and arrest that nutter."  
  
"He'll think twice before he mugs anyone else in this park." Fitz said without turning.  
  
"Besides, how could you have identified him? Are you saying you saw his face?"  
  
"No, but he would have had my stuff on him, wouldn't he."  
  
"Maybe." Fitz said, finishing making the fresh pot of tea and coming to sit down with mugs for himself and the Doctor, and refilled the girls mugs.  
  
"We should think about getting some sleep after we finish our tea." The Doctor said.  
"Right, I'll have to get to work in about six hours." Sam said.  
  
"What do you do now?" Fitz asked her. She found herself having trouble meeting his eyes as she remembered his history.  
  
"I work in a psychiatric hospital, helping out with the patients."  
  
"That sounds fascinating." The Doctor said, but he could feel the swirl of conflicting emotions in Fitz, who excused himself and left the kitchen.  
  
"What got into him?" Anji wondered as the Doctor went after Fitz.  
  
"How much did Fitz tell you about his life before he came to the TARDIS?"  
  
"Nothing at all. He doesn't seem to like talking about it."  
  
"His mother spent a lot of time going in and out of mental institutions, Fitz ended up in care at one point, and her illness is what ultimately led to her death, a cruel and horrible death. I suppose it's hard for him to be reminded of that."  
  
The Doctor found Fitz in their bedroom, lying face down on the bed with his head under a pillow.  
"What's wrong?" The Doctor asked, sitting on the edge of the bed and putting a hand on Fitz's back, he could feel the tension in his muscles.  
  
"Bad memories." Fitz muttered, his voice muffled by the pillow. The Doctor straddled his hips and began to knead the knotted muscles.. Fitz was very quiet under his hands, but the Doctor wasn't fooled by his stillness, Fitz wasn't sleeping, but he was starting to relax.  
After a while, Fitz threw the pillow off and turned over under the Doctor, looking up at him from his prone position.  
  
"It was something that girl said." The Doctor said.  
  
"Sam, yes. You really should try to remember her, you and she were traveling alone together for a long time before I joined you."  
  
"You're changing the subject."  
  
"Yes, I don't want to remember the things she stirs up in me."  
  
"Well, I can make you forget everything for a little while." The Doctor said, leaning down to kiss him, Fitz responded hungrily, all rational thought vanishing as they lost themselves in the mating bond.  
  
Anji had found Sam a room to sleep in, but she hadn't got much sleep, and she was a little irritable by the time she got up. She wondered if the bathroom was where she remembered, because she felt tired and grungy, and really needed a bath. She found some suitable clothes in one of the numerous wardrobes scattered through the TARDIS and then went looking for the bathroom.  
She was halfway across the console room, her hair still damp when the voice from behind her stopped her in her tracks.  
  
"Planning on running off without saying goodbye?"  
  
"Fitz, I didn't know anyone else was awake. I have to get to work."  
  
"I'll walk with you. You shouldn't go alone."  
  
"Why? It's light out there now, and you said you didn't think my mugger would be a threat anymore."  
  
He shrugged, stepping away from the doorframe where he had been leaning.  
"Either I go with you, or I follow you to make sure you get there all right. Your choice."  
  
"Then I'd love some company." She said, she noticed he folded a sheet of paper of the door lever on the console after he had opened the door.  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"Letting them know where I've gone, in case they get up before I get back."  
  
The park looked much less threatening now in the early light, even with the ground mist hiding the path. The birds were singing their morning warm ups, fluttering down into the mist to look for worms.  
  
"It looks nicer than it did last night." Sam commented.  
  
"That wouldn't be hard, what were you doing walking around at that hour of the night in the dark anyway?"  
  
"Heading home from a club, I've crossed this park dozens of times without a problem. What were you guys doing out at that time?"  
  
"Heading back to the TARDIS after a nice dinner."  
  
"And were you ever planning on telling me I wasn't the only occupant of the TARDIS you'd slept with?"  
  
"How....?"  
  
"Anji let it slip last night. I wasn't blind was I, you weren't sleeping together while I was still there?"  
  
"No, our relationship is quite new. I think the attraction was always there, but it took a near death experience to make us admit to each other how we felt."  
  
"I nearly died dozens of times and didn't tell him how I felt about him."  
  
"You think he didn't know? Anyway, as far as I know, you never actually tried to kill him."  
  
"You tried to kill him?"  
  
"Yes, I was within an inch of tearing his throat out."  
  
"Why?"  
  
Fitz stopped walking and she turned to look at him. She was stunned to see his eyes changing, realizing she hadn't been imagining it last night, then fangs extended down from his eye teeth. He pulled back from the total transformation and gave her a feral smile.  
  
"Got bit by a vampire." He said, pulling the vampire back under control. Sam stared at him in shock.  
  
"I thought vampires burst into flames in the sun." Anji said, looking up at the rising sun.  
  
"No, and I love garlic, holy water and crosses don't bother me in the slightest. All those old myths are a crock." He said, starting to walk again. Sam hesitated, then followed.  
  
"Bur you still drink blood?"  
  
"Yes, but I'm not a savage killer."  
  
"But you tried to kill the Doctor."  
  
"I wasn't in control then. The changes were triggered by a virus passed on in the bite. Once the virus was dealt with I had control of the changes."  
  
"We're here." She said, stopping at a pair of huge black wrought iron gates, set in a tall white wall topped with barbed wire.  
  
"Friendly looking place." Fitz commented.  
  
"It's not meant to be friendly, it's meant to help people get better."  
  
"That's the problem with these places, they don't think they can do both. I'll see you around Sam." Fitz said, vanishing into the mist. She watched until he was out of sight, then rang the bell for admittance.  
  
The Doctor got up and went looking for Fitz, entering the console room he saw the note on the console. Picking it up he read it quickly then stuck it in his pocket, heading for the kitchen to put the kettle on. Anji came in yawning.  
  
"Where's Fitz?" She asked.  
  
"He went to walk Sam to work." The Doctor said, pouring her some tea.  
  
"Thanks." She said, yawning again.  
  
"When Fitz gets back, I think we'll head off."  
  
"He was really upset last night, wasn't he?"  
  
"Not so much upset as disturbed, being reminded of his mothers death disturbs him."  
  
"He's never talked about it to me."  
  
"He's never talked about it full stop."  
  
"Sam knew about it."  
  
"She was there."  
  
"So you remember her now?"  
  
"Some things, towards the time when she left us, not much though."  
  
"She was a little hurt that you didn't talk to her."  
  
"What could I say to her, I didn't remember her."  
  
"Well, if we're leaving when Fitz gets back, I want to go and get some stuff from the nearest shops, because there are things you just can't get in space."  
  
"OK, you go ahead, I'll wait for him here."  
  
Anji went to get her bag and hurried out to the shops. She needed to pick up some underwear, and Marks and Spencers hadn't gone galactic yet.  


1\. Chapter 1 An old friend 2. Chapter 2 New Enemy  
  
Doctor Who and its accoutrements are the property of the BBC, and we obviously don't have any right to them. Any and all crossover characters belong to their respective creators. Alas no one makes any money from this site, and it's all done out of love for a cheap-looking sci-fi show. All fics are property of their individual authors. Archival at this site should not be taken to constitute automatic archive rights elsewhere, and authors should be contacted individually to arrange further archiving. Despite occasional claims otherwise, The Blessed St Lalla Ward is not officially recognised by the Catholic Church. Yet.  
  
Script for this archive provided by [eFiction](http://efiction.sourceforge.net/). Contact our archivists at [help@whofic.com](mailto:help@whofic.com). Please read our [Terms of Service](http://www.whofic.com/tos.php) and [Submission Guidelines](http://www.whofic.com/guidelines.php).


	2. Chapter 2

 

[](http://www.whofic.com/)

|  [Home](http://www.whofic.com/) | [Most Recent](http://www.whofic.com/search.php?action=recent) | [Categories](http://www.whofic.com/categories.php) | [Authors](http://www.whofic.com/authors.php?list=authors) | [Titles](http://www.whofic.com/titles.php) | [Help](http://www.whofic.com/help.php) | [Search](http://www.whofic.com/search.php) | [Log In](http://www.whofic.com/user.php) |  
---  
[Eighth Doctor](http://www.whofic.com/categories.php?catid=8)  
---  
**Trouble** by [Absinthe](http://www.whofic.com/viewuser.php?uid=2485) [[Reviews](http://www.whofic.com/reviews.php?sid=10143&chapid=19260) \- [0](http://www.whofic.com/reviews.php?sid=10143&chapid=19260)] [Chapter](http://www.whofic.com/viewstory.php?action=printable&textsize=0&sid=10143&chapter=2) **or** [Story](http://www.whofic.com/viewstory.php?action=printable&textsize=0&sid=10143&chapter=all)  
  
1\. Chapter 1 An old friend 2. Chapter 2 New Enemy

  
  
It was an hour and a half before she got back to the TARDIS and she found the Doctor pacing around the console room, looking edgy.  
  
"He's not back?"  
  
"No, and our connection has gone very faint. I think something has happened to him, and I can't find him, I don't know where he is."  
  
"Fitz can take care of himself, you know that."  
  
"Fitz is not as tough as he makes out Anji. I'm really worried about him."  
  
"We'll give him a little longer, then we'll go and look for him." Anji said, grabbing his hand and pushing him down on the sofa.  
  
"Just calm down, all right. We'll find him."  
  
Two police officers had been called to a break in at an abandoned warehouse on the edge of town. They entered cautiously through a door which had had its padlock torn off with a great deal of force.  
  
"Maybe we should call for some back up." One of them said, looking at the damage to the door.  
  
"I think two of us can handle the one man who was seen breaking in here." His partner said shaking his head.  
  
"What if it's some drugged up nut?"  
  
"Then we'll deal with it."  
  
They saw a huddled figure cowering in the corner of the warehouse, and walked over. The scruffy looking male looked up and saw them coming, he whimpered softly and scrambled to his feet, running for the stairs up to the next level. His skin was pasty white and slicked with sweat, his shirt was soaked in it.  
  
"Come down from there buddy, it isn't safe." Lewis, the older of the two policemen yelled.  
They held their breath as the man moved with catlike agility along the creaking, swaying catwalk, trying to get away from them, but his luck ran out as one very rusty piece gave way under his weight and he fell the twenty feet to the floor. They hurried over and were stunned that he didn't seem to have been hurt in the fall, he was still desperately trying to scramble away from them.  
  
"Bloody hell, poor bloke is terrified." The younger one, Carter, said. He crouched down to look less threatening.  
  
"It's OK, we're not going to hurt you mate, can you tell us your name? What's your name?"  
The man didn't answer, just looked wildly about for an escape route.  
  
"Probably an escaped nut. We should call the men with butterfly nets." Lewis said.  
  
"Butterfly? Butterfly room, Doctor. Doctor where are you?" Fitz moaned, then the terror closed over his mind again and he collapsed into incoherent gibberish.  
  
"Stay with him Carter, I'm going to radio for an ambulance, there's too much interference in here."  
  
"Great, what if he goes psycho again and rips my heart out?"  
  
"I'll make sure you get a nice headstone. Look, don't worry about it, he seems harmless enough now."  
  
Lewis went out to use the radio and Carter moved a little closer to their prisoner who was curled in a fetal ball, muttering quietly in what sounded like a foreign language.  
  
"Don't worry buddy, we'll get you a nice warm bed and some nice medicine to help you feel better."  
  
Anji and the Doctor returned to the TARDIS after a long day searching for Fitz with no luck at all. The Doctor was quiet, almost depressed, and Anji was worried about him.  
  
"We'll find him Doctor."  
  
"You don't understand Anji, I can hardly feel even the mating bond anymore. I don't think he's dead, but something has badly disrupted our bond. I don't know where he is, I don't know how to find him, and I don't know what to do."  
  
Anji was shocked, she had never heard him admit he didn't know what to do before.  
"Maybe we should try to find Sam, she's the last person we know who saw him, he might have said something to her."  
  
"All right, we know she works in a psychiatric hospital, first thing in the morning we start looking for her."  
  
"Why not now?"  
  
"Because it's getting dark, and I don't know where she lives."  
  
"First thing in the morning then, and after all, how many nut houses can there be around here?"  
  
The answer it turned out was one, and Sam Jones was indeed an assistant on the staff there, but she had finished last night to take a weeks holiday in France.  
  
"Do you by any chance know if she arrived with a young man yesterday morning?"  
The Doctor asked.  
  
"She did, kind of cute in a gangly sort of way." One of the other nurses said.  
  
"Did you see which way he went when he left?" Anji asked.  
  
"What's it to you?" The nurse asked, suddenly suspicious.  
  
"He didn't come home last night and we're very worried, it's not like him."  
  
"He headed off towards the park."  
  
"So he was on his way back and he never made it. All day Anji, all day and all night when I should have been looking for him, I wasn't."  
  
"You can't blame yourself, we'll find him, hear me, we will find him."  
  
"Look, I'll give her a call at home and see if she's still there, I don't think she was planning to leave until a little later. She might have seen him later in the day." The head nurse said.  
  
Sam was shocked when she heard Fitz was missing since he had walked her to work.  
"Tell them to wait there, I'm coming to meet them." Sam said.  
  
She arrived in twenty minutes, and saw the state the Doctor was in, gripping his hand she looked him in the eye.  
  
"Come on, not even Fitz could have got himself in too much trouble between here and there. We'll go to the police and report him missing, then we'll search everywhere until we find him. OK?"  
  
"OK." The Doctor said seemingly happy to take instructions from her for the moment.  
Sam looked at Anji, who took the Doctor's other hand, and they left the hospital, heading for the nearest police station.  
  
Sam did all the talking when they spoke to the police and left her address as point of contact. The three of them were leaving when she saw a friendly face.  
"Carter." She called.  
  
"Hi Sam, what are you doing here?"  
  
"A friend of mine has gone missing. We just came in to report it."  
  
"What does he look like, Lewis and I can keep an eye open while we're out."  
  
Sam gave a pretty concise description of Fitz, and when she was done she saw a faint frown on Carter's face.  
  
"What?" She asked.  
  
"That sounds like the basket case that Lewis and I picked up yesterday, breaking into a warehouse, but he was freaky Sam."  
  
"How?" She asked, hoping the Doctor would keep quiet.  
  
"Well, I don't know what he was on, but he was strong, agile, fast, he fell twenty feet and didn't even seem to be scratched. He was really strung out though Sam, he was talking gibberish, didn't seem to know who he was, or where he was. The only things he said in english was something about butterflies, and calling for his doctor."  
  
"That must be him. Do you know where he is now?" The Doctor asked, butting in.  
  
"Please Carter. It's really important." Sam said, seeing that he was giving the Doctor a dirty look.  
  
"No, we called an ambulance and they bundled him off to hospital, but if he's still anything like he was when we picked him up, then he'll be in a rubber room somewhere, that's for sure."  
  
"Carter, do you think you could help us find him?"  
  
"Why not, I can make a few calls, see if I can locate which hospital he was taken to."  
  
"Thanks Carter, you have no idea how much it means to me."  
  
"Sure."  
  
It took him almost an hour to find out where their man had been taken, and he passed the name of the hospital on to Sam.  
  
"I spoke to the doctor in charge of his case Sam, he said that he's alternating between psychotic episodes and periods of catatonia. He's not responding to drugs at all."  
  
"Thanks Carter." She said.  
  
They went to the hospital and Sam asked for the doctor who's name Carter had given her.  
  
"Dr. Hopper is with a patient at the moment. If you want to wait for him, you can take a seat over there." The nurse on the desk said.  
  
Sam took the Doctor over to the seats and sat him down, worried about him. He seemed to be very withdrawn.  
  
"Are you all right?" Anji asked him.  
  
"If it is him, I should be able to get some sense of him in the building, but I can't. Even this close to him, I can't feel his mind."  
  
"Don't panic yet, it may not even be him." Sam said.  
  
"What if it is him?" Anji asked softly.  
  
"Then we'll see what sort of state he's in."  
  
It was nearly two hours before a harried looking young man in a crumpled white coat came looking for them.  
  
"I had a call from the police, apparently you may be able to identify our mystery patient."  
  
"Yes, he may be a friend of ours who has gone missing."  
  
"Well, I should warn you, if he is your friend, he's in a bit of a state. He's injured himself during his psychotic episodes, and we can't get near him to tend the injuries, we tried to put him in a straight jacket when he went catatonic, but he snapped the straps when he had his next psychotic fit."  
  
He led them to a small, dimly lit room with TV monitors in there, and called up the camera for the padded cell where their patient was.  
  
"Oh God." Anji said, turning away from the screen in shock. Fitz was in the white room, screaming in some unidentifiable language, throwing himself against the walls. He had opened up a small cut on his forehead, and his hands were bloody. There were smudges of blood on the walls from where he was hitting them. The Doctor pressed his fingers to the screen.  
  
"Fitz." He whispered, almost as if he'd heard him, Fitz spun, looking straight at the camera.  
  
"Doctor?" Fitz's voice was raw from all the screaming, but was recognizable, a heartbeat later all hell broke loose as Fitz thudded to the floor, violent convulsions wracking his body. Dr. Harper swore and bolted for the door, yelling for a nurse as he went. The Doctor followed quickly, Anji and Sam looked at each other.  
  
"He never changes." Sam said, rolling her eyes and leading the way after him.  
  
In Fitz's room, Harper and the nurse were trying to hold Fitz still enough to get a needle into his arm as he continued to convulse.  
  
"No drugs." The Doctor said, appearing in the doorway.  
  
"Are you insane? We have to get the convulsions under control."  
  
"I don't want you drugging him any more than you already have. Aside from anything else, it won't work. Let me try something."  
  
He came in and gently displaced the nurse, who went at a nod from Harper. The Doctor stroked Fitz's forehead gently, as he touched him, he could feel the panicked torment of his lovers mind. He could feel Fitz looking for him, searching desperately for the damaged link. He wrapped his mind around Fitz's feeling the links flowing back into place and Fitz fell still.  
  
"He's catatonic again." Harper said, examining Fitz. He looked at the nurse.  
  
"Let's get these cuts cleaned up while he's quiet."  
  
"Yes doctor." She said, going to get a first aid kit. Harper turned his attention back to Fitz, and the Doctor, who was still stroking Fitz's forehead.  
  
"He called you doctor, are you his doctor, has he escaped from a private facility?"  
  
"Not exactly. I last saw him yesterday morning, and he was perfectly normal. There is a family history of mental illness, but he's never evidenced any symptoms. We need to find out what happened between him walking Sam to work, and him being picked up by the police."  
  
"Well, I doubt he'll be able to tell you."  
  
"We'll see." The Doctor said. He could feel that Fitz's mind was still disturbed, but the spiky shocks of terror were starting to smooth out as he was calmed by the Doctors presence.  
  
The nurse came back and they moved out of her way as she knelt to clean the cuts. Fitz grew restive again as the Doctor moved away from him, muttering in the unknown language again. The Doctor frowned, he cold almost place the language, but he couldn't understand why the TARDIS wasn't translating what Fitz was saying.  
The nurse finished and left the room, passing Anji and Sam in the doorway.  
  
"How is he?" Anji asked softly.  
  
"Distressed, but I think the worst is over for now."  
  
"So he's going to be all right?" Sam asked.  
  
"I didn't say that, he may never recover, but I don't think he's going to get any worse."  
  
"It's my fault, if he hadn't walked me to work, he would have been safe."  
  
"It's not your fault Sam. It's happened, now we just have to try to deal with it." The Doctor said. She noticed that now he had found Fitz, he was much steadier, more like his usual self.  
  
Fitz sat bolt upright with a terrified cry and the Doctor hurried over, kneeling he took the  
rigid body in his arms, stroking and cooing softly and soothingly until Fitz relaxed against him, then he rocked him gently.  
  
"How on Earth do you do that without drugs?" Harper asked.  
  
"It's about trust, you don't need to drug people if they'll trust you."  
  
"I want to go home." Fitz whispered, his voice so low only the Doctor could hear him.  
  
"Home?" The Doctor transmitted the question directly into his mind, and Fitz instantly formed an image of the TARDIS.  
  
"I'm taking him out of here." The Doctor said.  
  
"Absolutely not. He's my patient, he's exhibited severely violent behavior, and he's not going anywhere for at least 28 days, which is how long we can hold him on a section eight."  
The Doctor looked at Sam, who nodded to confirm his statement.  
  
"But he doesn't belong here. He needs to be in familiar surroundings, it will not aid his recovery at all to be kept in this environment."  
  
"He stays here until the 28 days are up, or I'm convinced he's no danger to himself or anyone else." Harper said firmly.  
  
"With all due respect doctor, you can't help him, and I can." The Doctor said.  
  
"What makes you so sure I can't help him?"  
  
"This is not a psychiatric illness, this is a physical thing that has been done to him. There is nothing you can do for him, and the longer he's kept here, away from the proper treatment, then the less chance there is of him recovering," The Doctor said, allowing his anger to show, until he realized he was frightening Fitz.  
  
"Very well, but I'm coming with you to ensure the security of the location you're taking him to. If I'm not satisfied that he can't escape and threaten public safety, then he comes back here."  
  
The Doctor agreed without hesitation. Once he had Fitz back in the TARDIS, then nothing could take him away again.  
  
At Harpers insistence, he managed to persuade Fitz into a straight jacket while he was moved. He could feel Fitz fighting panic at the restraint, and rubbed his back gently.  
  
"I'm right here, and it won't be for long." He said. Sam and Anji stayed close as they walked Fitz along the corridor and helped him into the back of an ambulance.  
  
"Where are we going?" Harper asked as the Doctor directed the driver into the park.  
  
"We're almost there." The Doctor said without answering the question. They stopped close to where the TARDIS was parked.  
  
"We walk from here." The Doctor said.  
  
"What kind of a joke is this?" Harper demanded as they reached the TARDIS.  
  
"Bring Dr. Harper inside." The Doctor said to the women as he took Fitz inside.  
  
Sam and Anji each grabbed one of Harpers arms and pulled him into the TARDIS, and Anji quickly pulled the lever to shut the doors, but Harper was much too stunned to put up a fight as he looked around the console room.  
  
"I'm hallucinating." Harper said, his voice shaking.  
  
"No, you're not." Sam said, fighting the urge to pinch him to prove it.  
  
"So where has he taken my patient?"  
  
"Through there somewhere, but I wouldn't bother looking for them, the corridors go on for miles, you'll get hopelessly lost." Anji said.  
  
"We'll see about this, I'm going to call the police." Harper said.  
  
"You're staying right here until the Doctor says otherwise." Anji said, Sam standing at her shoulder for support.  
  
"I suggest you just sit down over there and stay quiet." Sam said, pointing at the sofa off to one side of the room.  
  
The Doctor unbuckled the straight jacket and threw it aside with unexpected force, making Fitz flinch. The Doctor sighed and rubbed his shoulder.  
  
"It's all right, I'm sorry Fitz."  
  
He guided Fitz backwards and made him sit on the medical couch.  
  
"I need you to lie down Fitz, I have to run a brain scan, just to make sure there's no physical damage." He said, pulling the scanner over to the bed.  
  
Fitz took one look at the headset on the scanner and freaked out, jumping off the couch with a scream of terror and rage, he bolted for the door. The Doctor grabbed him and hauled him off balance, sending him crashing to the floor, he straddled his struggling, hysterical lover, pinning him down and trying to reach his mind, but Fitz had fallen deep into a memory of pain and fear and was beyond this light telepathic contact. They only way to reach him would be with the full power of the mating bond, and that could only be attained while they were mating.  
  
He didn't like the thought of doing this while Fitz was so disturbed, but he had no choice, he had to reach him.  
  
Fitz became aware of the Doctor entering his mind through their bond, but couldn't turn away from the memory he was trapped in. He was lying pinned to a hard, cold metal slab, a headset like the scanner set strapped to his head, little needles digging into the skin. In a moment of duality he could see the scene form two perspectives, his own, strapped to the slab, and the Doctors, looking at him from outside the memory.  
  
The headset was activated and Fitz screamed as the mind probe began digging through his psyche, looking for something. A voice from the shadows spoke out.  
  
"There is a link, a telepathic connection. We can use that to find him."  
  
Fitz heard this, even through his torment, and knew he couldn't allow it to happen. Reaching deep inside himself, he tore the anchoring bond away, and the strength it lent him fled, his mind fleeing with it.  
  
"The bond is here Fitz, this is not. You are safe now, and we are together. You must release this memory, let it go." The Doctor said, understanding what had pushed Fitz down into the depths of psychosis, to have deliberately broken something as integral and permanent as the mating bond must have been terrifying and agonizing.  
  
"They wanted you, and I wouldn't let them have you." Fitz breathed, outside the memory with the Doctor now, secure in the bond.  
  
"You were very brave Fitz, now you need to be brave again, you need to come back to yourself, stop hiding here inside your mind, inside this awful memory."  
  
"Where am I really?" Fitz asked.  
  
"Safe, in the TARDIS with me. They can't reach you here."  
  
Fitz opened his eyes, and found himself lying naked on a medical couch in the Doctor's arms, he brushed his fingers over the Doctor's milky pale skin, and the Doctor smiled faintly and opened his own eyes.  
  
"Do you feel up to talking about what happened?" The Doctor asked him softly.  
  
"I wasn't paying attention, I got caught and tortured. Nothing beyond the usual." Fitz said, trying to keep his voice light.  
  
"Fitz..."  
  
"Please, if I try to talk about it I won't be able to keep a lid on my emotions."  
  
"You shouldn't try. I know how hard it is for you to let your feelings show, but the best thing you can do is talk it through."  
  
"All right." Fitz said, still not sounding sure. He sat up on the bed, folding his arms around his knees and felt the Doctor sit up beside him, not touching him now.  
  
"I was coming back across the park after I made sure Sam got to work safely, and I was grabbed from behind. I didn't see them, but I get the feeling I would know who they were if I did, you know, like we've met them before. They were talking some weird language, that wasn't being translated for me, but that sounded oddly familiar too."  
  
"I got the same feeling."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"You were screaming in a strange but familiar language while you were...gone."  
  
"Oh. They blindfolded me and took me to their little torture chamber. You saw it in the memory. They tried more traditional methods first, inflicting pain, but I wouldn't tell them where you were, so they wired me up to their little box of tricks. Oh God, it hurt so much, digging through my brain, trying to find out where you were, I couldn't let them find you, I couldn't let them inflict this kind of pain on you. I was aware they had found the link, so I broke it, and went insane."  
  
"Do you remember how you got away?" The Doctor asked.  
  
"Not really, I think they dumped me when they realized they'd pushed too hard and my mind was gone, then it's just snatches, trying to run away from the police, falling, needing to find you, but not being able to remember how to do it, where you were. I was so frightened, and I did it to myself." Fitz said. He broke then, sobs wracking his body and the Doctor held him, letting him cry.  
  
When Fitz was calm again, the Doctor stroked the bare skin of his back.  
  
"Fitz, you know I'm going to have to do the scan, make sure their mind probe didn't do any damage to your brain. Will you trust me? Will you let me do it?"  
  
"I don't really have a choice do I? If they did any damage, we have to know."  
  
The Doctor got off the bed and dressed, and Fitz lay down, every nerve and muscle in his body taut as the Doctor hooked him up to the scanner. Once he was done, he turned it on and held Fitz's hand, the contact giving him some comfort.  
Anji and Sam were still standing a loose guard over Harper when the Doctor came into the console room.  
  
"How is he?" Anji asked, seeing how drained and rumpled the Doctor looked.  
  
"There's no damage to the brain itself, so physically he's fine. Psychologically he's been through the mill, and it will take some time, but he should bounce back. He was tortured Anji, they tortured him to try to get to me, and he wouldn't tell them."  
  
"So they sent him round the bend?" Sam asked.  
  
"He did that himself, he shattered the mating bond to stop them using it to find me, losing that was what drove him over the edge."  
  
"You two are lovers? I thought he was being brought here for medical treatment, I must insist you return both him and me to the hospital straight away." Harper said angrily moving to stand in front of the Doctor.  
  
He looked down at the human with piercing blue eyes and said.  
"He's received medical treatment, the catatonia and the psychotic episodes have been dealt with, now he can start healing, and you are not taking him anywhere."  
  
"I'm taking him back to the hospital where he belongs."  
  
"You are not taking him from here. He's safe here and I'm not letting you put him at risk again."  
  
"You think they're still out there, if it was you they were looking for?" Sam asked.  
  
"I don't know. but I don't know who they are, and if they can stop Fitz identifying them, then I'll have no warning if they come at us again. Fitz must be protected until we get off this world." The Doctor said, momentarily forgetting about Harper.  
  
"My God, you're all insane. Off this world indeed." Harper said.  
  
"Look around you Dr. Harper, do you really think this was created by anyone on your planet?" The Doctor demanded in irritation.  
  
"I see things like it every week on Startrek."  
  
"Really? Well this is real life Dr. Harper, and real death, and there is absolutely nothing the psychiatric community on this world can offer him, because there is a whole universe out there a lot more advanced."  
  
"Fine, you think you have him under control, prove it, let me assess him. If I'm satisfied he's not a threat, then I'll leave him here with you and not bother you again. If I don't think you have the situation under control, then I'll call the police and have them remove him by force if necessary."  
  
"You think you can get him out of here?" Sam mocked.  
  
"Sam, enough. I have no problem with him assessing Fitz." The Doctor said.  
He led the doctor to their bedroom where Fitz lay in the double bed, staring at the ceiling.  
"Fitz, Dr. Harper wants to assess you. Are you up to talking a little more?"  
  
"No, I'm tired."  
  
"Came on Fitz, a few minutes and we can move on." The Doctor said.  
  
"Fine." Fitz said, sitting up and nailing Harper with a hard look.  
  
"What?" He asked coldly.  
  
"I'd prefer to talk to him alone." Harper said to the Doctor.  
  
"I'll be outside if you need me Fitz."  
  
"Thanks." Fitz said, his tone softening noticeably.  
  
The Doctor leaned against the wall outside the door, monitoring the ebb and flow of Fitz's emotions to make sure Harper didn't distress him too much.  
Harper ran a basic assessment on Fitz and was surprised to find he really did seem to be on the road to recovery. He wondered how the Doctor had managed it. He could tell the boy was exhausted by the end of it, and left him sleeping when he went out to talk to the Doctor.  
  
"Well, I don't know how you did it, but he seems to be well on his way to a complete recovery. Wherever you're planning on going form here, he can go with you."  
  
"Thanks." The Doctor said a little acidly, walking his visitor back to the console room.  
  
"Sam, we're going to be leaving very shortly, I want Fitz out of here. Will you be staying, or going back."  
  
"I'm going back. It was nice seeing you again, but this isn't the life for me anymore. Say goodbye to him for me will you, I don't want to disturb him now."  
  
"I will, and it was nice to see you again too. Good luck Sam."  
  
They hugged briefly and Sam said good bye to Anji, then she and Harper stepped out of the TARDIS. They both turned and watched as it dematerialized, leaving nothing behind but an indentation in the soft ground.  
  
"So it was all true, there is a whole universe out there for them."  
  
"Oh yes, but it gets damn dangerous from time to time." Sam said with a smile. A shadowed figure watched them form behind a tree, cursing that they hadn't been able to get the Doctor on this world, but there would be other worlds and other chances.  


1\. Chapter 1 An old friend 2. Chapter 2 New Enemy  
  
Doctor Who and its accoutrements are the property of the BBC, and we obviously don't have any right to them. Any and all crossover characters belong to their respective creators. Alas no one makes any money from this site, and it's all done out of love for a cheap-looking sci-fi show. All fics are property of their individual authors. Archival at this site should not be taken to constitute automatic archive rights elsewhere, and authors should be contacted individually to arrange further archiving. Despite occasional claims otherwise, The Blessed St Lalla Ward is not officially recognised by the Catholic Church. Yet.  
  
Script for this archive provided by [eFiction](http://efiction.sourceforge.net/). Contact our archivists at [help@whofic.com](mailto:help@whofic.com). Please read our [Terms of Service](http://www.whofic.com/tos.php) and [Submission Guidelines](http://www.whofic.com/guidelines.php).


End file.
